TAFI spotlight on TCS

The Travel Agents Federation of India has been requesting government to walk the talk and extend ease of doing business for travel industry, which includes scrapping of Tax Collected at Source (TCS).

Hazel Jain

What needs to be done is that TCS needs to be scrapped, says Ajay Prakash, President, Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI). “It really services no purpose. If the government’s purpose is to bring a greater number of people under the tax net, that is already in place. Because anyone who travels overseas is required to file tax returns. The airline records are there for the government to access. If it’s a collection of collecting revenue in advance, I don’t know how much of revenue TCS is generating. But what I do know, that it is creating a lot of inconvenience all around, quite contrary to the concept of ‘ease of doing business’. We have sent various representations to the government on this – not just TAFI but IATA and TAAI and other bodies have done this. And at the end of the day, we got such a half-basked measure that I don’t know what to say about it,” he adds.

He said the travel agents are overburdened with compliances.

Session on TCS for members

To help members ride the TCS wave, TAFI recently organised an educational session for its members in Mumbai. Prakash says, “The focus was to explain the nuances of TCS, FEMA and a few other laws and regulations which perhaps not all our members are familiar with. So we invited senior experts in the field to come and talk to our members and educate them and make them aware of what they need to be careful about when conducting business.”

Jitul Mehta, Western India Chairman, TAFI, who led the entire event, says, “Our members have not understood it accurately and what they need to do while doing business. Some say, it’s on the tour package, some say it’s on hotels. Or only sightseeing, etc. Basically, one has to be very clear about TCS. So we organised this session.”